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From weig2000/SDF:
pop3 leaked some information about PLAN's latest build plan:
View attachment 688317
如图所示 as shown in the figure (screenshot) 2020.11.14:
054B明年启动; (054B will start next year)
054A后续再上20艘,黄埔12艘、沪东8艘; (20 more 054A, 12 by Huangpu, 8 by Hudong)
055现在已知16艘; (total 16× 055 as known currently)
052D、071、075都会上批量,如075目前总数8艘。 (052D, 071, 075 will continue with batch production, for instance, total 8× 075 as known currently)
076现在尚未走完程序,后续不详。(076 still in the process, the follow-up is not clear)
NOTE: The "total" (number) used in above context, as in the case of the Type 055 and Type 075, includes both the existing warships and the new ones to be built. So total 16× 055 mean there will be 8 more to be built... same for 075. I use "more" when I mean the new ones to be built.
Some adjustments/corrections are made directly upon the original text based on the subsequent feedbacks.
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Then some knowledgeable commentary from Bltizo/SDF (better known as Rick Joe in Twitter, The Diplomat, etc):
Thanks for the translation as always.
My thoughts...
- Amphibious warship expansion is reasonable and expected. I wonder if any of the 075 production will feature improvements. Total of 8× 075s would easily be the world's 2nd largest LHD fleet by a long shot and within spitting range of the USN.
- Continued production of 055, 052D is reasonable, not unexpected, but I wonder how far he is projecting forwards. Specifically, we are all expecting at least an 055A to emerge around 2025 and potentially an 052E depending on what 054B looks like... so I'm not sure how many years forwards he's thinking here.
- Concurrent production of a bunch of new build 054As as well as 054Bs at the same time does make me wonder if 054B is a meaningfully larger ship than 054A (>5000 or even >6000 tons). After all, simultaneously building two ship classes of similar weight class wouldn't make that much sense imo. OTOH, it might mean that 054B is expected to field so much new additional technology they want a sufficient frigate backup just in case there are delays with 054B. Or both. If 054A production is meant to continue at HP and HD I also wonder where 054B will be done.
- The new build 054As are also interesting, and an additional 20 (!!) 054As is quite a significant development, increasing the current in service fleet by a whopping 2/3rds. I think the 054A really does strike a balance between being blue water capable but also being sufficiently small and cheap to be also very suitable for robust near-waters/regional missions. After all, an 054A is basically as capable as the most capable surface combatant from any navy in Southeast Asia in service today. But building another 20× 054As (that will likely extend production to 2025 at least) also makes me feel like it should feature at least some upgrades from current ships. It's probably too much to expect 054A to be equipped with the UVLS or the new radar intended for 054B, but I feel like the Sea Eagle radar and the overall HHQ-16 SARH fire control system could be upgraded -- if they're really going to commit to a fleet of 50× 054As overall then upgrades to the entire class's weapons systems and sensors and FCS should be inevitable, and the PLAN of the early 2020s should have a much more mature MIC to draw upon for the weapons and sensors suite than the PLAN of the mid 2000s when 054A was first produced.
Some sensible improvements might be replacement of Sea Eagle with a new small/medium size AESA (maybe the one intended for the Pakistani 054A/Ps, or similar?), the pursuit of an ARH [active radar homing] guided HHQ-16 (they almost definitely won't be quad packing the new 3-5 missile in the 054A's VLS and the HHQ-16 is a large enough missile that with upgrades can become a SAM with 100+ km range, perhaps a worthwhile upgrade for a 50 strong ship fleet which the 054A/Ps will benefit from as well).... and at the very least extension/redesign of the helipad and hangar to accommodate Z-20F.
- The distinct lack of mention of carriers is noted, and seems deliberate. Fair and understandable.
- The mention of 076 is of course useful because, further confirming/entrenching that it is a real project. I don't think we had any lingering doubts, but reconfirmation is always useful given the sort of ship 076 is meant to be and how fast the information about it first came out.
(bold amplification is mine)
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Noted as well the feedback from @lcloo there:
The exact translation of this "054B明年启动" is 054B will commence next year.
What is to be commenced can mean several things. Does it mean commence of
1) the building program, i.e. preparation of tooling and requisition of machinery, component contracts tenders will be carry out and will be closed xx months later etc. OR
2) cutting of steels in shipyards.
The continual construction of type 054A indicate that, although the 054B program has started, the actual steel cutting work may take place a year or two from now. The design of 054B may be completed (or may be not) at this moment. Also, they will need to do validation tests on the ship design as well its components before steel cutting.
Based on US's recent experience on problems faced on new technology war ships, I believe PLAN will take a cautionary steps like building 2 ships for evaluation in actual running on the open seas, finding and correct any flaws before proceed with the follow up production.
Therefore the building of twenty 054A from next year onwards does sound reasonable and in line with conservative approach of PLA tradition.
056/A may not have big guns nor big missiles but they are very important for the national security of Chinese coastlines. China has 14,500km of coastlines that has been constantly threatened by enemy submarines. (Australia once boasted that they had a submarine just outside of Shanghai port doing spy works for weeks few decades ago.)Why 54 + 26 056/A? We know that there are about 71-72 Type 056 and Type 056A now.
Sorry, I mis-understood your earlier post. Yes you are right on the numbers. I re-check again, and now I think the 54 units is referred to type 056A only. There are another 22 units basic type 056 which I think were not included in the chart, may be due to their lack of advance tow sonar gear.I understand the role of type 056/A but why this graphic says there are now 54 of them, if we know there were launched about 70 up to this year.
Don't be limited to the existing military equipment development. The development of China's military equipment has been far ahead of the concept of the US, and in technology, China is catching up and surpassing step by step,